Entries in shell companies
(11)

When was the last time you did a third-party program check-up? Not a full review of all your third parties but something you can perform on a quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis with desktop tools available to you or your compliance team.

Transparency International’s Max Heywood recently posted an article on TI's website asking if the British Virgin Islands -- from where I operate a cross-border fraud and asset recovery law firm -- has “cleaned up” since the publication of the so-called Panama Papers.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is expanding required reporting of beneficial owners for cash real estate purchases beyond Manhattan and Miami to six new areas in California and Texas.

Official White House Photo by Pete SouzaThe Obama Administration Thursday announced a series of actions to end the use of anonymous corporations in the United States and require disclosure of beneficial owners when foreigners deposit money or buy assets in this country.

Lugano-based BSI SA on Monday became the first bank to use a DOJ amnesty program to resolve potential criminal offenses for helping U.S. taxpayers use secret accounts and offshore shell companies to evade taxes.

A book by Michael Findley and Daniel Nielson, Global Shell Games: Experiments in Transnational Relations, Crime and Terrorism, shows how shell companies are used to commit bribery, circumvent sanctions, launder money and evade taxes. And are available online for a few hundred bucks.

The fraud allegations aimed at Japan-based Mt. Gox, formerly the world's biggest bitcoin exchange, have exposed the possible use of a shell company in Delaware in a way that law enforcement authorities have been concerned about for years.

Last month, UK Prime Minister David Cameron talked about plans to create a publicly accessible registry of information on the beneficial ownership of companies. This registry will be open to everyone, not just law enforcement authorities, he said. It will "shine a spotlight on who owns what and where money is really flowing," Cameron said.